The life of an ordinary native of Chandrila would never be particularly exciting. After all, what awaited her? Her brother? A family inheritance and a boring life — she would get married, her brother would get married. There would be children. And that would be it... They would live a boring, ordinary life, like most inhabitants of the Galaxy. But neither Mila Karnur nor her little brother Joyran — were fond of a simple life. The stars beckoned to the brother and sister. And each of them set a goal to become someone who would fly among them. To see the beauty of space and the Galaxy. What's not a goal? Mila still had a chance to become a Jedi Knight. Her parents wouldn't be against such an outcome.
But Mila herself was too weak... Unlike, say, Light. Light... At the thought of that handsome guy, Mila's heart filled with warmth. And the problem wasn't his incredible beauty. Light... Light was kind, courteous; Mila was sure: even if he had a perfectly ordinary appearance, he would still be popular with the ladies. Author — alas and alack, ladies at all times don't have such selection criteria as kindness and intelligence. But this is fantasy. So let's pretend that's the case. Mila herself could confidently say she had fallen in love with Light... Something strange bound her to him. She felt drawn to him, she could sense his emotions, feelings, and state. She even envied Zela Diren, that Togruta who had managed to do it... with him. And Rela? A Twi'lek Padawan, a very beautiful girl.
Mila was worried that Light wouldn't choose her... She had even dismissed the fact that Jedi take a vow of celibacy. Even if she never got married. She just wanted to be near him. Because just his presence filled her with joy. Standing near the drive system, she studied the technical documentation for the Star Trek. The ship was incredible. Especially its price, probably comparable to a battleship or dreadnought. Though Mila herself wasn't familiar with the prices of warships, if only because warships had long since faded into legend in the Republic. Only the Trade Federation uses their equivalents. And full-fledged cruisers, battleships, and other ships more powerful than frigates could allegedly only be seen in the Kuat sector. And even then — the Kuati weren't in a hurry to show off the huge monsters that, according to rumors, were located near their equally massive ring-shaped shipyards.
"Hey, mechanic," BB-7 contacted her over the comlink. A rather strange droid, whose model was new to Mila, who was used to astromechs. If the upper section, containing the sensors, was familiar to her, the lower section, which astromechs used for movement, was a ball. Just a rolling ball, which, however, didn't stop the engineers at Tustra Droid Construction from stuffing in jet boosters, an electroshocker, and an analog of a grappling hook. According to Light, the BB series was an exclusive series that His Majesty Alaric had planned only for their sector. However, someday the BB models would reach the Galaxy. Most likely, the company itself would release this model on the Galactic market to prevent competitors from stealing it.
"What?" Mila asked the droid.
"Life forms have gathered around the ship. Clearly sentient, come to the cockpit."
Sentient? What sentients were eking out an existence here? Could it be related to her brother and the fact that Light and his master had gone into the depths of the swamp, locking her in here and taking that cylinder her brother had entrusted to her? Mila quickly walked to the elevator and went up to the second level. Entering the cockpit, she walked up to the starship's windows...
"They appeared suddenly," BB-7 reported. "I've counted twenty sentients by interfacing with the ship's scanners."
"Is this related to Light and Master Lorm?" Mila asked the droid.
"More likely yes than no," the droid turned its sensors toward her. "They're trying to hack the ship and lower the ramp!"
Mila closed her eyes... They're trying to hack the ship?! Even a fool would understand that the hackers wouldn't do anything good to the actual owners. She had to get out...
"BB-7, you have the ship's control codes, right?"
"I do," came the droid's affirmative warble. Mila understood binary, though.
"Then start the ship. We won't fly away from Selvaris, but we need to give these sentients a deadly surprise — let them know someone stayed on the ship," Mila smiled mischievously. Before, the need to kill sentients used to scare her, but after that slave planet, you'd do anything. They were going to sell her to a Hutt, she thought. And Mila had reconsidered her attitude toward the life of a sentient.
"I like the way you think," the droid beeped, connecting to the ship's port. The Star Trek literally came to life, screens and sensors lighting up.
Mila sat down in the pilot's seat and took the controls, and the sentients... The un-sentient ones — quickly recoiled from the ship. Where to shoot? Mila happily pressed the button wired directly to the controls. The ship shuddered slightly and lasers erupted along the starship's course, literally plowing up the ground. The mercenaries opened fire on the ship, but no way. They couldn't even penetrate the ship's shields. Mila flew forward, while BB-7 took control of the rear lasers and started shooting backward... She banked, turning the ship, clipping the vegetation, thanking BB again, who managed to help her correct course so she didn't crash into some of the trees it was better not to hit. The bandits were back in her sights, and Mila pressed the button again. Sure, these lasers weren't what you'd mount on some dreadnought, but even they were enough to kill sentients...
She could feel the death of the sentients, but she tried to detach herself from it. Mila had already felt death before. For example, her mother's death or her father's demise...
"Should I add some more to that?" Mila said thoughtfully, finding the lever for the missile armament.
"What are you doing! Those are anti-starship missiles!"
But Mila didn't listen, aiming a missile directly at the bandits... Firing. The missile hit right in the shack's yard, killing eight sentients instantly with the blast.
"You're crazy! Sometimes I think raising a droid army and teaching skin-bags to suffer is the right idea."
"I'm not even going to ask where you picked up such words," Mila said wearily.
"Right, don't ask. Though I'll tell you. I read the history of my master's searches on the HoloNet. And if Twi'lek lesbian porn is still understandable to me, where phrases like 'skin bag' and 'what do we know about HK-47' came from — personally raises questions for me."
"If you have questions, BB, then that's a reason to check your personality manifest," Mila sighed heavily. Light... Why was he attracted to some exotics? And why lesbian porn? Or maybe it was his master searching for that? If anyone might search for stuff like that, it was Lorm Decer... Landing the ship, Mila thought about contacting Light.
"Don't distract them," BB said. "They're probably busy right now."
"How do you know?" Mila asked the droid. "And what do you think they might be busy with?"
"Dicing up the companions of those who came to us."
"But..."
"They're both Jedi, mechanic. People like them can tear apart a puny army piece by piece."
* * *
"Jedi," the apparent leader of the gang addressed them. It was worth noting that he was speaking through a loudspeaker, because it was impossible to tell where the voice was coming from. "We know you arrived with Mila Karnur and are looking for her brother. Would you be so kind as to assist our employers in the search, since they are also looking for him?"
"I don't think we'll be able to reach a consensus on this matter, mercenary," I spoke up.
"Oh, and why not, young Jedi?" the man asked. "Look at it yourself. You're targeted from all sides. You're completely surrounded."
Surrounded? Jedi? What a surp... I understand if there were a thousand of them, but with my sensor skills, I counted about thirty-seven sentients.
"On top of that — we've captured your ship and one young woman, quite interesting and attractive..."
"Funny joke," Lorm laughed. "If that were the case — why haven't you shown us the hostage? Our captured ship?"
An explosion sounded in the distance... That was exactly where the Star Trek was... I focused on the Force Bond that had spontaneously formed between Mila and me... It probably formed because I liked her. I did like this girl, and my feelings turned out to be mutual... Even now, I'm thinking about the future and clearly see Mila at least beside me. Mila's emotions didn't express caution, anxiety, or fear. On the contrary, they were filled with excitement and merriment.
"Looks like they can't do that, Master," I smirked.
"Is that so..." Lorm said.
"Last chance, Jedi! Or do you think you can cut us all down in direct combat? You're just pathetic trash; we've killed a Jedi before. Surrender. You'll just meet some old acquaintances. Maybe she'll even bury you somewhere picturesque..."
"I don't know what Jedi you've already killed," Lorm said thoughtfully, a lightsaber flying into his hand, while mine immediately flew into mine. "But the instinct of self-preservation is a basic instinct inherent in any living creature!" Lorm shouted. "How did you manage to turn yours off, spouting such nonsense to us?"
The lightsabers ignited, and we prepared for battle. The mercenaries took positions behind the rubble of buildings, on the roofs of the remaining buildings on the platform, and inside the buildings themselves.
"Kill them!" the leader shouted. "Open fire!"
And so the heat began! Taking the Soresu stance, I started deflecting blaster shots, even managing to send a few back; Lorm had trained me to do that, teaching me elements of the Shien form. The master, in the manner of a seasoned Shien adept, closed the distance with one mercenary, instantly hacking him to ribbons, then a second, a third... The light-blue, cyan blade of the lightsaber cut in all directions, mostly killing. Lorm never liked leaving an enemy at his back. I didn't stay in one place for long either. They tried to pelt me with grenades. Dodging the mercenaries' shots on the move, I lunged toward those who'd had the audacity to throw grenades at me.
Explosions sounded behind me, but I had already jumped onto the roof of a one-story building, driving my lightsaber precisely into the body of one of the men. Spinning around, I immediately closed the distance with a woman holding a sniper rifle. A swing of my blade... The sniper rifle remained in the woman's hands, but her head fell beside her body as it collapsed nearby. The mercenaries themselves helped me and Lorm by shooting and giving away their positions. Although, the bravado about their group encountering a Jedi and killing him was definitely not a lie. They acted competently, attacking from all sides, using the terrain, and most importantly — they didn't close into melee with the Jedi.
Because at lightsaber range — only another Jedi or a Sith could stop us. Ordinary people had no chance. Of course, there are proud Mandos, like that Teyron Jarps. But for that, you had to dedicate your whole life to training, and even then, it wasn't a fact that you'd reach a Jedi's level. Pulling a mercenary toward myself with telekinesis — I was capable of such a trick now — I gutted him with my blade and threw him aside... Behind me? I had jumped off the roof earlier and was moving to close in with the master. Deflecting a couple of shots aimed at my back, I turned toward the shooters and slammed them into a building wall with telekinesis. What the...
Only at the last moment did I manage to dodge... How? How did these bastards get a tank onto a half-submerged platform? That tank nearly killed me; however, it did me an invaluable service — the shot hit the wall I'd just slammed those two mercenaries into with telekinesis. I didn't have time to remove them, and as a result — they were simply blown apart. But now there would be no mistakes... The tank was on antigrav, looked a bit battered, the armor chipped and scratched. But nonetheless — a tank is a tank. It looked classic: an ordinary hull with a medium-caliber laser attached to it. But even that would be enough to, say, punch through the Star Trek in a couple of shots...
Well then... I took the Ataru stance and, without waiting for an invitation — launched myself toward the tank... It fired, I jumped up, dodging the shot, flooding my body with the Force. The gunners didn't have time to raise the weapon; I landed right on the turret and, spinning in place, sliced through the turret, dropping into the tank itself. With precise movements, I killed the two operators and looked around. The tank's systems were still functional, that was good... Pressing a lever, I turned the turret toward the mercenaries fighting Lorm and opened fire on them... Lorm didn't even look my way, continuing his butchery of enemies... One shot and three auras faded, another shot took two lives at once.
"Student — get out of there," Lorm's order came through the comlink. I acted quickly, jumping out of the tank. And just in time — the moment I landed nearby, the tank was thrown into the air by an explosion from a shot by a local RPG equivalent. Grabbing the flaming tank carcass with telekinesis, remembering that notorious "weight doesn't matter," I hurled it toward the shooters. Two more mercenaries were swept away by the tank...
A crack sounded... What the... About eight enemies remained, but that didn't matter. The platform... It couldn't withstand the abuse of our battle and was sinking. At that moment, my eyes met the master's gaze. He jumped up and began advancing toward the spot Mila had told us about. At that point, he switched entirely to a defensive mode, simply deflecting shots... Understood. The master had the cylinder and all the passwords; to get the information, he had to do the deed. Meanwhile, I would finish them off. And I ran, leaping over the burning tank, jumping onto a roof. Lorm had already climbed into that very building located behind the burning tank...
And this time, they decided to attack all together...
"Fire!"
I jumped down, starting to deflect shots and methodically closing in on the mercenaries. They tried to retreat but couldn't; I pulled two of them toward me at once, killing them with one swing, then hurled another into the water with a wave of my hand using telekinesis... Full Force amplification allowed me to almost instantly close the distance with the remaining five enemies. And up close, they were no match for me. Accurate, fast strikes ended their lives. Making sure no one else was alive, I headed toward the building where Lorm was.
"Well, Master?" I asked Lorm. "Did you find it?"
"Yes," the knight sighed. "We finally know where Joyran Karnur is. It's Gizelum."
"Gizelum?" I asked.
"The owner of the Medallion was not only Vitiate's servant but also a prison warden in his Empire. On Gizelum, at least that's what his planet is called..."
I closed my eyes... That planet didn't appear in the games or comics, which didn't stop it from existing in reality — after all, the authors simply weren't obligated to describe "every single" planet in a huge, galactic Empire, which could contain many diverse planets.
"Hutt," the master expressed. "All this time, the answer was right under our noses. Gizelum is a couple of parsecs from Zakuul, and I've been to Zakuul."
"We couldn't have known for sure that Joyran was on Gizelum, Master," I noted. "After all, there's probably such a Force anomaly there that we definitely couldn't sense Joyran's disturbance in the Force."
"Yeah," Lorm spat. "Considering he ended up on Gizelum, I assume it's the medallion's influence, not just another shelter of his. But even if that smartass figured out how to create a shelter in the prison complex of one of the most powerful Star Empires of its time... Then..."
"Then we can book him a ticket to the Alderaan Mental Hospital," I finished for the master.
"Be that as it may, my young student, we need to get out of here. This tub is definitely going under soon, and I personally don't want to swim in putrid water."
"Neither do I," but the platform had a firm intention to give us a bath, in all seriousness.
Because a long howl and crack sounded. It hadn't survived our fight with the mercenaries and now, apparently, had decided to finally drown itself.
"I don't care about your crush, student, but I personally will deliver a couple of gut punches to this smartass, her brother!" the master exclaimed, using telekinesis to throw a pile of mangled metal away from us.
I didn't answer. The platform was sinking, so we had to act fast. As soon as we exited the building, it was already tilting, and things, naturally, flew in our direction. Hmm... It seemed that to jump to solid ground from the heavily tilted platform, we would have to jump from its highest point. That meant the following: we would have to run, practically uphill, and once we reached the point — try to jump to the ground. Otherwise — we could jump from anywhere, but we had to consider that debris might fall on us from above because the platform was sinking unevenly. That is, one part first, then another. And if we jumped into the water and tried to swim/walk to solid ground, debris could fall on us from the suspended part.
It seemed that the same thought had struck the master, because without even communicating, we ran as fast as we could upward. Trained Jedi are masters at overcoming obstacles. Both the master, who was an archaeologist and had definitely run through tombs, and me — a sentient who, even if I didn't have a remarkable physique in my first life, was actively studying parkour in my second... In practice. Plus, there was the parallel killing of aggressive life forms. So we managed to climb up calmly, boosting ourselves with the Force. Objects on the platform were falling, the mercenaries' corpses were flying into the water, as were items not firmly secured enough...
But we kept climbing, jumping across buildings that tilted with the platform, grabbing onto them with our hands. At the same time, I used the grappling hook to help both myself and the master.
"UGH!" We jumped onto one of the buildings and almost fell off. It seemed that...
"What the Hutt?!" Lorm exclaimed, pointing down. "Do you feel that, student?"
I peered into the water... What was shaking the platform was shocking... According to the data we'd managed to obtain before our journey here, people from this place always disappeared. Sooner or later... They'd tried to colonize this area three times, and every time, within a year or two — the entire platform's population would evaporate.
"I'm going to kill this idiot!" I exclaimed, seeing something I didn't even want to see in a nightmare. "He called this a shelter and even gave its coordinates to his own sister!"
Before us, tentacles writhed. They had wrapped around the platform and were tilting it. Nearby were metal mining shafts: that's why the Selvarisians had created a settlement here. And directly under the platform they'd settled on, a real swamp monster lived. Pale tentacles with strange, tooth-like appendages. And what looked like the monster's mouth was peeking out of the water. And we couldn't even see its whole body, although this monster looked terrifying in the Force.
"Oh..." its tentacles finally shook the platform loose, dumping the human corpses and colony remains into the monster's mouth.
But why is this platform even still alive? If a monster like that lives here, it could have destroyed the platform long ago — unless... it was being clever, feeding on the sentients gradually, attacking in a way that no one would know it was there, all without damaging the platform. No... It was saving its meal. And I think I get it: how it managed. Its tentacles had opened up, forming gaps. Mouths? No... Suckers. It was like it took a breath and created a massive pull.
"This is, for the love of everything, beyond insane!" the mentor exclaimed, shooting a Force Lightning straight into the monster's mouth...
The tentacles shuddered, and the creature let out something like a roar. The water churned, disturbed by the beast, and the mentor switched targets. He'd attacked its mouth with Force Lightning at first, but now he just blasted the water itself. The platform clearly had insulating properties, but the creature's skin didn't. The pain only enraged it, though, and it slammed one of its tentacles down at us... We leaped out of the way. That tentacle left a serious gouge in the hull, smashing a couple of buildings to pieces... Suddenly, noise from above. A starship... And I easily recognized the engine hum of my own ship.
"Well, there's our rescue."
Naturally, we'd told Mila we were heading out and ordered her to wait at our spot. But the mechanic girl decided to go rogue and flew to us herself... I felt her shock... She was freaked out when she saw what we'd woken up. Still, she didn't forget to lower the ramp, and we jumped right into the ship. No time at all — I literally felt a tentacle whip past right next to the ship, so I rushed for the cockpit immediately. Once inside, I sat down at the controls, nudging Mila aside slightly, and relying on my Force sense, I dodged the tentacles flailing in every direction, and then... I swung the ship around once I had enough altitude... Fire. Everything — everything I could — I unloaded on the swamp kraken. Missiles, lasers. I just didn't launch seismic charges at it.
The beast's roar, as its body was torn into bloody shreds, was audible even inside the ship. Crimson blood literally flooded the swamp. I kept firing until I finally felt in the Force that it was dead...
"That was a bit much, student," came Lorm's voice. "Way too much. We'll have to restock the ammunition before the flight to Gizelum."
"Whatever," I shook my head. "The main thing is we're going to Gizelum. For Joyran," I explained at Mila's confused look.
"Let's get this over with," the mentor agreed. "The Council already let me off the hook for a couple of spots I should investigate once we found the medallion."
They love letting things slide. Honestly — the fact that we were chasing the medallion didn't stop me and Lorm from occasionally dropping in on missions in his actual field. One-day missions. There were no truly incredible relics, knowledge, or artifacts in those places. But at least they helped me train...
By night, I was lying in my bed. Tired but satisfied. It had been an interesting job, after all... Suddenly, the cabin door opened.
"Mila?" I asked the girl. The ship was still docked at the spaceport on Selvaris. We weren't planning to leave it. The comfort here was way better than even the best hotel on this planet. The girl looked a little strange and wasn't in her usual mechanic's suit. Instead, she was wearing something resembling a nightgown. Though, yeah — we'd bought her that gown ourselves.
"I figured it all out, and I'm tired of waiting for the right moment," she said, stepping close to me, and sealed my lips with a kiss.
* * *
"So?" a tall, dark-haired man asked the woman.
"You're forbidden from taking it off," the Witch remarked.
Not a single ray of light penetrated the gloomy cave. Yet it didn't seem to bother those present.
"A true warrior sets the laws he must obey himself," Teyron Jarps snorted.
Oh yes. Shilazh knew that favorite phrase of Teyron's, the mercenary foisted on her. He truly had flexible principles, doing whatever it took to win.
"So what did you find out, Witch?" the mercenary asked her.
"I found Joyran Karnur's coordinates. It's Gizelum," she placed a portable holoprojector in front of Jarps, from which a yellowish planet sphere appeared. "It was once one of Zakuul's secret prison complexes. Not much is actually preserved about this planet's role. What prisoners were held there — and therefore, what we might encounter there — is unknown. But..."
"But we're going there anyway. Just like that little Knight and his Padawan."
"Yes..."
"And the Boss demanded that the Padawan be brought to him in one piece. The kid has considerable potential in this... sorcery of yours..."
"You haven't seen real sorcery, mercenary," Shilazh hissed.
"I've seen plenty," Teyron cut her off, starting to put his armor back on. "And I know damn well that you'd love to mince both the Knight and his Apprentice for disgracing you before Him. But remember who you answer to and that He would be displeased."
"I thought you were a pathetic liar and hypocrite, Jarps..."
"Watch your words, Witch," the Mando snarled. "We wouldn't want your brains leaking out of that pretty head of yours..."
"I'd advise you to watch your words, Mando," Shilazh turned and headed for the cave exit.
Jedi are just a bunch of idiots. In the heat of battle, when they push their sensory techniques to the limit, they didn't notice her witch spy. Well, so much the better. They'd gotten one step closer to the goal, and so had Shilazh herself. The main thing was to play the game right. Plagueis was dangerous, but if she could get her hands on the power of the ghosts — which, apparently, could be easily summoned using the medallion — even the Sith of Bane's line would kneel before her, let alone those pathetic Jedi...